France will send 10 million doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines against Covid-19 to Africa, via the African Union (AU), over the next three months, the Elysée announced Monday.
This partnership between Paris and the AU provides that these doses “will be allocated and distributed under the African Vaccine Acquisition Fund (Avat) and the mechanism for global access to vaccine (Covax),” two initiatives designed to allow Africa to try to catch up with developed countries in terms of vaccination.
“The pandemic can only be overcome through intense cooperation between multilateral, regional and national actors,” said President Emmanuel Macron, quoted in a statement. “I hope that we will act together, making the most of the know-how and political legitimacy of African leaders and building on our strong partnership with the African Union,” he added.
For his part, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the French donation “a strong and welcome gesture of human solidarity and political cooperation at a time when the world needs it most.
During a meeting on the subject with Mr. Macron in Pretoria in May, Mr. Ramaphosa denounced “vaccine apartheid” and regretted that a few countries receive an “unlimited” number of vaccines while a very small number of Africans are protected.
Avat is a pooled procurement mechanism to enable AU member states to obtain enough vaccines to meet at least 50% of their needs. It is complementary to Covax, which aims to provide the remaining 50% through donations.
According to the Elysée, “enough vaccines have already been purchased under the Avat initiative to enable African countries to vaccinate 400 million people, or a third of the African population, by September 2022, at a cost of three billion dollars.